Cisco’s tepid forecast clouds quarterly beat, shares fall

Cisco's tepid forecast clouds quarterly beat, shares fall. Network gear maker Cisco Systems reported third-quarter profit and revenue that topped analysts’ estimates on Wednesday, but shares are down in the premarket action after dour current-quarter forecasts indicated that the transition to a software-focused business remained a work in progress.

Revenue in the company’s closely watched security business, which offers firewall protection and breach detection systems, rose 11% to $583M in the third quarter. Read more here.

Cisco’s stock has climbed 18 percent and is the second biggest gainer among Dow components this year as investors bet on the company’s turnaround under Chief Executive Officer Chuck Robbins.

Since taking the helm in July 2015, Robbins has steered the hardware giant away from its traditional business of supplying switches and routers and into newer growth areas such as cloud, Internet of things and cyber security.

Revenue in the company’s closely watched security business, which offers firewall protection and breach detection systems, rose 11 percent to $583 million in the third quarter.